A century-old wealthy family that rose from Shanghai

In fact, the Chen family had already begun buying up properties at rock-bottom prices starting in the second half of 1974, though they initially focused on real estate.

In July, CK Asset Holdings' Chen Wenjie signed a memorandum of understanding in Singapore for the Paragon Shopping Centre on Orchard Road; in August, Universal Group and CK Asset Holdings purchased different commercial buildings in Tokyo; and at the end of August, CK Asset Holdings announced an investment in the Shangri-La Hotel Tower in Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo.

This round of bargain hunting in Tokyo properties saw the participation of CK Asset Holdings, Universal Holdings, and of course, Si Yezi's investment company.

Hong Kong at the beginning of September.

Garden Road, Ping An Bank Building.

Chen Guangliang's custom-made Rolls-Royce slowly drove into the building's underground parking garage.

He then took the elevator directly to the 15th floor of the office building.

This headquarters building, constructed in the early 1950s, now appears rather old, mainly because it is too short, with only 15 floors.

"Dad, Ping An Investment's bottom-fishing operation in the Hong Kong stock market has begun, and we expect to complete the plan within six months. Currently, the Ping An Index is at 320 points, and I feel it will continue to fall. Investor confidence is weak, and the market is stagnant, so I think our plan will go smoothly," Chen Wensheng reported.

Ping An Investment's plan was to increase its stake in as many as 40 to 50 listed companies personally selected by Chen Guangliang by about 5%. In addition to traditional listed companies such as Hong Kong Electric, Hong Kong and China Gas, China Bus, Kowloon Motor Bus, and CLP Power, it also added some companies that were listed in the early 1970s, such as Sun Hung Kai Properties, New World Development, Hang Lung Properties, Sino Land, and Victoria Harbour.

Like Li Ka-shing's Victoria Harbour, although it is just a small company, Chen Guangliang values ​​Li Ka-shing's abilities and will naturally include him in the investment list; of course, for companies with obvious major shareholders, Ping An Investment will not exceed 5%, and will remain in the range of 3-5%.

Looking at the list he had written himself, Chen Guangliang said, "Yes, we'll buy at a steady pace over six months. The market will definitely continue to fall, which will be a good opportunity for us. Also, we can start investing in securities in Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom."

Ping An Investment, being an investment bank, naturally invests in securities globally. Over the years, Ping An Investment's assets have reached over HK$2 billion, mainly from allocations or dividends from Ping An Bank, several stock market investments, and profits generated from real estate trusts, among other things.

Chen Wensheng immediately said, "Then we'll need to cash out our gold to have more funds. This year, the Hong Kong government has opened up free trade in gold, which will make buying and selling gold more convenient in the future, but the price of gold has already risen to US$156 per ounce."

"Okay, I'll also clear out my gold holdings by the end of the year, cashing out at a steady pace over four months."

"it is good"

Cashing out gold is not difficult. Hong Kong has become a tourist city, attracting tourists from all over Asia. Due to its extremely low tax rate, gold is naturally cheaper than in these countries, making gold jewelry one of the most popular products for tourists.

After discussing securities, Chen Guangliang continued, "We hope to start the reconstruction of the Chinese Bank building next year. The Ping An Bank Building also needs to be rebuilt in the 1980s, but the current site is too small. We can only buy the Murray Road parking lot and then merge the sites."

This is his future plan, and he likes to tell his son about it first so that his son will follow his instructions.

Chen Wensheng said, "The Hong Kong government is now auctioning off very little land, almost stopping all government land auctions. Given the Hong Kong government's shrewdness, they would never sell us the Murray Road car park under the current circumstances."

Chen Guangliang laughed and said, "Of course, we don't want to take advantage of the Hong Kong government. We'll wait another three or four years until the real estate market is booming before we talk again."

"Um"

This is the truth. The revenue from land sales by the Hong Kong government is used for government personnel and public construction expenses; there's no need for them to take advantage of the situation. To put it bluntly, the Chan Kwong Leung family donates tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars to Hong Kong every year, primarily to education, and secondarily to healthcare.

The Chan family has donated over HK$300 million to the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (which has already been upgraded); the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong have also received over HK$100 million in donations.

Despite his ambition to make a lot of money, such as cashing out at the peak of the stock market and ruthlessly exploiting retail investors, Chen Guangliang's support for charitable causes is also enormous, with cumulative donations reaching approximately 8 million yuan.

Aside from charitable donations, his initial investment in the Hung Hom Tunnel was arguably a charitable decision; after all, it was the early 1960s, and investing 200 million HKD in the Hung Hom Tunnel was undoubtedly an 'unreasonable investment'.

After communicating with Chen Wensheng, the two also attended a high-level meeting of Ping An Bank, a listed company, where one of them served as chairman and the other as executive director.

At the meeting, Chen Guangliang advocated that Ping An Bank should make its due contribution and take responsibility for Hong Kong's economic recovery.

Its CEO and other senior management immediately understood the meaning of this statement: Hong Kong's economy was undervalued, and Ping An Bank should provide loans to help some companies recover at this time, while Ping An Bank could also develop its loan business.

After Ping An Bank went public, Ping An Financial Group held a 75% stake. The funds raised from the IPO were actually used to acquire the Huarenxing Building, but Chen Wensheng personally finalized and negotiated the deal.

At this time, Ping An Bank already held 46% of Hang Seng Bank's shares and continued to buy more, expecting to increase its stake to over 51% next year.

In contrast, when Hang Seng Bank's founders, Ho Sin-hang and Ho Tim, noticed that Ping An Bank was buying Hang Seng Bank shares on the secondary market in 1972-1973 to increase its control, they proactively chose to cash out some of their shares at a high price.

In this way, Ping An Bank is essentially spending money to reduce the shareholding of Hang Seng's founders. In the long run, it is certainly worthwhile, especially since Ping An Bank only increased its shareholding from 37.5% to 40% before the stock market crash; the rest was basically acquired gradually after the crash.

this day.

In front of all the administrative staff, Zhong Yuanguang, the head of the administration department, said, "Everyone, please pause for a moment. I have something to announce: Starting today, Chen Mengyi will be transferred from the administration department to the purchasing department as the deputy manager. Let's give her a round of applause!"

The dozens of employees looked at each other in confusion. Someone asked, "Did you call the wrong name? We only have Yan Mengyi in our department!"

"Yeah, the supervisor is really something. This person has been here for over a year and has performed exceptionally well, how could he even forget their name!"

Chen Mengyi has been with the company for a year and is undoubtedly the "dream girl" of many male colleagues, who are now feeling indignant on her behalf. More importantly, Chen Mengyi is highly educated and efficient, which makes her even more desirable to the male colleagues, yet they also feel somewhat ashamed of themselves.

Of course, some people took the opportunity to confess their feelings, only to receive a friend card and continue to be the center of attention.

At this moment, Chen Mengyi quickly stood up and said to all her colleagues, "Dear colleagues, I'm sorry, my surname is actually Chen. You can continue to call me Mengyi, Ayi, or Chen Mengyi!"

Everyone was dumbfounded; they couldn't understand why someone would conceal their surname when starting a job.

It's also because Chen Guangliang hasn't been involved in the affairs of Era Films for many years, to the point that many people have forgotten that the company is actually owned by Chen.

Of course, some colleagues speculated that Chen Mengyi had a powerful background, because the department management was very friendly to her, and many people even saw that the company's senior executive Sheng Aiyi had a close relationship with Chen Mengyi.

At this point, Zhong Yuanguang gave Chen Mengyi a simple explanation: "Ayi came to the company because the elders asked her to keep a low profile and gain experience. It wasn't her intention to hide it from everyone, so please don't think there's a problem."

Everyone was stunned. This clearly showed that Chen Mengyi had an extremely powerful background, to the point that even her superiors had to curry favor with her. However, at this moment, no one had yet guessed Chen Mengyi's true background, because Hong Kong citizens often talked about the "Four Tigers of the Chen Family," meaning that Chen Guangliang had four sons, each running a huge business conglomerate.

Subsequently, Zhong Yuanguang took Chen Mengyi to work in the purchasing department.

"Uncle Zhong, I hope no one will have any complaints? It was my fault. Everyone treated me like a friend, but for over a year, even my surname has been fake," Chen Mengyi said kindly.

Throughout the past year, she has been just an ordinary employee. Although her supervisor has been secretly taking care of her, in the eyes of all her colleagues, she is just a new employee, at most someone with a higher education and a prettier appearance.

Now, everyone's status is obviously different. Manager Zhong's statement today was clearly at his father's behest, so he will no longer deliberately hide his identity.

Zhong Yuanguang said, "Ayi, you don't need to worry about these things. Your job from now on is to participate in management. The purchasing department is just your first stop. Your father hopes that you will become familiar with the business of various departments of Times Pictures in the future."

Chen Mengyi immediately understood and said, "Okay."

Soon, news spread within the Times Pictures industry: a young, beautiful, and highly educated woman had been appointed as the deputy manager of the purchasing department, becoming the company's youngest middle-level manager. Everyone speculated about her background, with various theories circulating.

At the same time, Chung Yuen-kwong, the head of the administration department, was also assigned to a new position as deputy director of the production department, which is Ho Kwun-cheung's deputy.

This scene quickly caught the attention of Raymond Chow and Robert Ho's team of "professional managers".

In the CEO's office, Ho Kwun-cheung said, "When Chung Yuen-kwong was transferred to the position of deputy director of the production department, something strange happened in the administration department."

Upon hearing this, Raymond Chow suddenly realized and said, "I guess that's Sir Chan's youngest daughter. Could it be that Sir Chan plans to let his daughter take over Times Films? By the way, how is this Chen Mengyi performing?"

“She has a very good reputation,” said Robert Ho. “Colleagues all say she is highly educated and capable. I have actually met her a few times, and I have the same opinion. However, I thought she was a relative of Sir John Chong and his wife. I didn’t expect her surname to be Chen.”

Raymond Chow said, "I didn't expect it either! I just felt that there had always been a force in the company. They seemed to control the real estate business of Times Pictures, but in reality, it was the management team that Sir Chen had been placing in the company. After all, Sir Zhuang only has 18% of the shares, while Ping An Investment has always held 60% of the shares, and the two of them together own 80% of Times Pictures."

Raymond Chow glanced cautiously at the office door, then said, "Sir Chan has arranged for his daughter to come to work. Is he really trying to take back control of Era Films? Where do we stand then?"

Raymond Chow frowned and said, "It's just a guess right now, so I can't say too much. Besides, our salaries are quite high. We're just working for money! And haven't you noticed—from Bruce Lee to Li Hanxiang's return, and then to Michael Hui's establishment of Satellite Company, it was all Sir Zhuang who directly appointed them. We were actually just in management; the overall direction wasn't in our hands."

He Guanchang nodded, immediately abandoning the idea of ​​encouraging his friend to be independent, otherwise he really didn't know how he would die!

"dong dong"

The office door rang.

"Come in"

Zhong Shiyuan walked in, glanced at his superior He Guanchang, and then said to Zou Wenhuai, "Mr. Zou, Mr. He, I have discovered a promising talent who can make up for the loss of Bruce Lee."

He Guanchang laughed first, "Mr. Zhong, if we really had such talent, we would have discovered it long ago!"

Zou Wenhuai smiled and nodded, saying, "Manager Zhong, please speak freely. You're new to this position and working diligently. There's nothing wrong with recommending talent!"

Zhong Shiyuan didn't care that the two men were a little disgusted with his lack of professionalism, after all, he had a mission. He calmly said, "This man is called Jack Cheng. He comes from a martial arts background and was Bruce Lee's stunt double. So, I want to train him."

Raymond Chow suddenly asked, "Manager Zhong, is Ms. Chen Mengyi from your department Sir Chen's daughter?"

Zhong Shiyuan nodded and said, "Yes, Sir Chen intends to mentor her, so he has her start as an ordinary employee in the company and asked me not to give her any special treatment, so I didn't tell anyone."

Raymond Chow immediately replied, "Yes, we heard the rumors circulating outside and wanted to find out more. Since Sir Chen's daughter is working at Era Films, she can choose whichever department she wants to work in. We will do our best to train her."

Zhong Shiyuan nodded. There was no doubt about that. He owned 60% of the shares and was the founder. If he wanted to take back management control, even Sir Zhuang would have to step aside.

Not wanting to offend Zhong Shiyuan, He Guanchang said, "Since you have your eye on him, then let's train him!"

The main reason was that he had realized that Zhong Shiyuan was Sir Chen's man, so he was somewhat afraid to offend Zhong Shiyuan.

At this point, Zhong Shiyuan also understood that even if Raymond Chow and Robert Ho disagreed with nurturing Jack Cheng, he would tell Sir John and Mrs. John to support him, as this was something Sir John had instructed him to do.

After Chung Sze-yuen left, Raymond Chow and Leonard Ho exchanged glances. Their idea of ​​maintaining long-term control over Era Films quickly faded. With this kind of training, the Chen family would undoubtedly be in power in the future.

Although they were unwilling, there was nothing they could do.

Two days later, the board of directors of Times Pictures held a meeting, and Zhuang Zhujiu announced another exciting piece of news: Times Pictures would issue a number of new shares, and the management would have the opportunity to buy them at a 40% discount. Among them, Raymond Chow received a million shares, and Robert Ho received a share of HK$800,000.

Everyone was all smiles and expressed their gratitude to the board of directors, especially a young man sitting in the second seat—Chen Wensheng, the general manager of Ping An Investment.

Chen Wensheng later said, "This is an incentive measure from the board of directors. It has been many years since the last one, but I believe the timing is very good because every time such an incentive measure is issued, the stock market is at a low point. These shares can multiply many times in the future, and of course, this is what you deserve."

Raymond Chow quickly replied, "Thank you, Mr. Chen. The senior management of Times Pictures are all very grateful for the company's incentive measures, and we will continue to contribute to the company's development."

In reality, he understood that the biggest contribution of Time Travel was not film production, but real estate. In 1972, the sale of two properties brought in a huge cash flow of 1.8 million, but by this year, those two buildings might only be worth 1.2 million.

With its vast funds, Era Films continued to redevelop its properties, even purchasing another property in Mong Kok for only HK$4000 million.

Afterwards, Raymond Chow walked with Leonard Ho and Leung Fung, and he exclaimed, "We're determined to be the ones who support the emperor!"

Raymond Chow nodded and said, "Sir Chan is behind this. I'm afraid no one in Hong Kong is as good at business as him."

Having tasted the benefits, everyone's complaints naturally subsided for the time being. (End of Chapter)